A 105 year old recently completed a bicyling hour record ride. He's the only person over 105 years old to make an attempt, so he automatically has the record for that age category (105-110?). Before I link to it, you need some context of the "Hour Record"

One of the long-running cool parts of bicycle racing is the "Hour Record". Here's how it works:

- You ride a ride a bike on a track of known exact length.You start from a stop and go for one hour. Your laps are counted and the distance of your last partial lap, and the record is kept in kilometers.
- The track is a "velodrome". It's an oval track with banked turns. The really nice ones are made out of wood (And I guess they're only really nice if they're kept smooth).

That's basically it. A maximal one hour effort is super difficult. First, the guy has to be in super good shape and train specifically for it. Then, he has to have a near-perfect effort during the attempt. If memory serves me right, when Eddy Merckx set the hour record back in 1971 (at 49.4km, or 30.7miles) he said he probably wouldn't make any more attempts and that the effort he made was so intense, he felt like it would take some time off the end of his life (that he'd die sooner). That makes it all the more interesting that a 105 year old has made an attempt.

He did less than half the distance of Merckx's record (22.5km, or 14mph. He had a better attempt two years ago and set the 100+ year old record at 17miles).

The current record is at 54km, which is really impressive as it's 34miles, but compared to the Merckx record, it's not. The current record was done using new technology - a significantly better bike and clothes. Merckx, on the same fancy bike in his prime, even with all his old 1970s training methods, 1970s nutrition, and far inferior doping methods, probably would've been faster.

This hour record is really interesting because it happens separately from all the other racing. So, there is a whole race schedule and the real races happening. No one automatically does the hour record. It's not a regular thing like, say, the NBA 3-point contest. But it is a much more serious, important, and respected thing than the 3point or slam dunk contests. A rider can make an hour record attempt when they want. But to have a chance at setting the record, you don't just decide "oh, I guess I'll try this weekend". It's something a racer would decide and plan for starting 6-12 months in advance and modify their training and racing schedules for. They also have to plan it with the governing body to get the official timing and distance measuring done. Sometimes numerous riders will make attempts in the same year. Sometimes years have gone by without anyone making an attempt.

In the 80s, people started making big aerodynamic improvements to the bikes, and by making bikes that allowed super aerodynamic body positions (significantly better than what, say, current time trialists and Ironmen competitors use now). (Just the technical side alone of the hour record progression, attempts, etc. is a super interesting subject). So -- they made it so the record could only be set using the same technology as Eddy Merckx used. (context here, Eddy Merkx was a God of bicycle racing. He was like Michael Jordan times 3. Or more. The hour record he set stood for 12 years and then the guy who beat it used disc wheels and a skinsuit (the wheels make a big difference). So the bike technology was limited to what is basically a normal road bike. When the governing body made that limitation, they also made a separate category with no or much less limitations on bike design and body position, and there have been rule changes over time.

The hour record is also cool because it's something you an also do yourself to see how you compare. To do it right, you need to ride on an "out and back" route or on a loop (so you don't just ride with a huge tailwind). Of course, your conditions on a road will never be as good as a nice velodrome.

If you want to learn more about this, there is a good documentary from the 70s about a guy named Ole Ritter making an attempt. I had a DVD of it. It's here, though the upload quality isn't the greatest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOuY7mXDWDY (the first 5 minutes give you a good idea of how an hour record attempt works)

There are other documentaries about guys who have set hour records. Some real interesting stories about the guys who drove technical progress (one guy was doing everything on his own and I think he built the bike in his shed or barn!)

Ego wrote:Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing ~ Helen Keller

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ERE can help to buy freedom and may provide tools for dealing with outright exposure, but freedom and tools get rusty without use. Here is a thread dedicated to those who are using them to the fullest.

If you believe it to be an adventure then post it. There is no right answer. The adventure can be in your head or on a spaceship to mars.

Well, I gave my resignation letter to my boss on Monday afternoon. She knew it was coming since I told her 6 months ago that I would pull the plug in the spring. I will be there until late March. Then I will start what I call my semi-retirement and maybe full retirement in 5 years. I am 28 years old.

I have always been into adventure. Multi-weeks canoeing trips in Northern Canada, 5 weeks solo kayaking trip on one of the longest river in the world, self-supported cross country ski trip. Each time I was going on a big adventure I got comments about how I was brave and so energetic to do those things. Often too, people would tell me how lucky I would be to do all this. They would be quite envious. " You are living my dream"

I started to tell people around me about the resignation thing and retirement. This is a much more bigger adventure than any other trips I did. The "pulling the plug" adventure. I am much more stressed out now than the night before I left for my solo kayaking trip. I am full of doubts, but I know I am doing the right thing and that everything will work out. This is, in comparison, much safer than any trips I have done. No under current swapping my canoe in icy water, no drunk man harassing me at the edge of the village, no grizzly bear sniffing my tent. My life is in no way in danger.

Yet, it is interesting that most comments I get are about how uncertain the future may be for me, negative comments in general. How this is such a dangerous thing to do. How can I dare leaving such a stable job ? Now that I will have time to do even more adventures, it is not seen as something positive. I am seen as reckless now. This is no dream.

Of course, I didn't divulgate all the details of my financial situation to these persons. I would get even more questions, unpleasant ones I believe. " What ? you really lived on 30% of your income ? " What do you mean, you dress at Sally Ann ? "

I hope this will be one of my biggest adventure I will have to live during my time on this planet.
Amen !

C40 wrote:A 105 year old recently completed a bicyling hour record ride. He's the only person over 105 years old to make an attempt, so he automatically has the record for that age category (105-110?). Before I link to it, you need some context of the "Hour Record"

At the age of 105, the French amateur cyclist and world-record holder Robert Marchand is more aerobically fit than most 50-year-olds — and appears to be getting even fitter as he ages, according to a revelatory new study of his physiology.

Bobby McGee wrote:
it is interesting that most comments I get are about how uncertain the future may be for me, negative comments in general. How this is such a dangerous thing to do. How can I dare leaving such a stable job ? Now that I will have time to do even more adventures, it is not seen as something positive. I am seen as reckless now.

First of all a huge congratulation on your resignation. You are doing exactly what I am very close to doing and you describe the reactions so well. Instead of well wishes and trust in that I do this after thorough considerations and that I am looking forward to it like crazy, I hear disbelief - both in that it is going to work out and that I will actually do it.

Zero money bike tour. Cycling from above the arctic circle in Finland to Germany on a recycled bicycle with no money while eating road kill and dumpster food, and sleeping in a hand stitched teepee. He paid for the ferry by picking up cans along the roadside and recycling them.

I dislike self promotional stuff and I won't be offended if the moderators want to delete this post, but I thought I'd throw it out there if anyone is interested.

My family and I recently sold pretty much everything we own, including our house, and hit the road in a 1969 RV that I restored. If anyone is interested in following along I'll be posting updates on my site: https://luxagraf.net/

A couple things: 1) I don't write about money much, but I am tracking all expenses and will eventually get around to posting some cost info somewhere on the site. 2) We didn't sell everything and move into an RV to save money, so far cost wise it's been cheaper than the house, but not by much (we're on the east coast where free camping is hard to come by) 3) I'd be the last person to call this daring, especially to this crowd.

@Luxagraf, that is a great adventure and is most certainly daring! An absolutely beautiful family and a rolling catastrophe of a vehicle, what more could you ask for from life? I have bookmarked you next to C40's blog.

Since writing that I read your conversion posts, especially the 8-track post, and felt bad about my rolling catastrophe comment. And Tools, that was particularly good.
We are not things, Watts was fond of saying, we are happenings. But we are happenings with things. Specifically with tools, many of which help us happen in one way or another. What to make of these tools then?